On Thursday, 156 golfers teed off at Royal Birkdale with the Claret Jug in sight. By the time Friday afternoon arrives, more than half the field will be gone.
That’s the reality of the British Open cut. To survive into the weekend, players need to finish among the 70 lowest scores, ties included, after 36 holes.
There’s no safety net here, either: unlike some events, there is no 10-stroke rule. If a golfer is within 10 shots of the lead but still outside the top 70 on the leaderboard, his week is over.
The British Open and the PGA Championship are the two majors that keep the largest group alive for Saturday and Sunday, with both taking the top 70 scores plus ties. The U.S. Open trims the field to 60 plus ties, while the Masters is even tighter, sending only the top 50 scores plus ties into the weekend.
Royal Birkdale’s last turn as Open host produced a cut line of five-over par. This time, though, the numbers point toward something tougher. Data Golf projects Friday’s cut line most likely to land at one-over par, with a 34.5% chance, followed by two-over par at 38.6% and three-over par at 13.4%.
A cut at two-over would put several notable names in danger. Jordan Spieth is at three over, Sam Burns is at three over, Cameron Smith is at three over, and 2023 British Open winner Brian Harman is at four over. They still have 18 holes to claw their way back.
For context, here are the cutlines from the last 10 British Opens:
In Other News...
Brandel Chamblee Just Took A Brutal Shot At Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau is back in the major spotlight early Thursday morning, when he tees off at the 2026 British Open with Scottie Scheffler and Tyrrell Hatton. It is a marquee pairing for a player who remains one of golfs biggest draws, even as the results have been frustrating this season. DeChambeau has already missed the cut in all three majors this year, and each one came with a narrow margin that made the disappointment sting a little more.
That backdrop is what made Brandel Chamblees latest criticism land so hard. The Golf Channel analyst took aim at DeChambeaus attention to YouTube content, framing the issue as a question of priorities at a time when the two-time major winner is still trying to reestablish himself in golfs biggest events. The tension is obvious: DeChambeau still has the talent to matter in a major, but the conversation around him keeps drifting toward everything except the leaderboard. [Read more 🡒]
Royal Birkdale Could Humble A Few Open Favorites Fast
Royal Birkdale is about to put a fresh batch of Open hopefuls through the kind of test that tends to expose even the most polished form. With 156 golfers in the field for the 2026 British Open, Sports Illustrateds staff has already started sorting the contenders from the vulnerable ones, leaning on recent play and course history to size up who can handle the links and who might get knocked off balance early.
The list of names tells you how wide open this one feels, with Chris Gotterup, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jordan Spieth all drawing support as possible winners, while veterans such as Adam Scott remain in the conversation too. Spieths history at Royal Birkdale gives the venue an extra layer of intrigue, and Scotts long major run only adds to the sense that this championship could produce a familiar name or a surprise if the wind and the bounces turn unforgiving fast. [Read more 🡒]
British Open Crackdown Has Golf Fans Bracing For Controversial Penalties
Major championship golf has spent the year drawing a harder line on behavior, and the British Open is now carrying that approach into one of the sports most tradition-heavy stages. Earlier this year, the governing bodies introduced a code of conduct that gives officials more room to punish misconduct, and the message around this Open has been clear: standards matter, whether the issue comes from a player or the gallery.
For players, that shift adds a new layer of tension because penalties can now arrive without the kind of warning golfers were used to in the past. For fans, the tournament is also promising zero tolerance for disruptive or inappropriate behavior, which means the atmosphere at the Open could feel a little less forgiving than in years past. The policy has support in principle, but it also leaves open the question of how far officials will go when tempers flare or the crowd gets out of hand. [Read more 🡒]